Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.latimes.misc From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 'Send in the New Clowns' Comics Will Miss Bush, Quayle but Are Already Skewering Clinton, Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 06:06:07 EST Message-ID: HEADLINE: 'Send in the New Clowns' Comics Will Miss Bush, Quayle but Are Already Skewering Clinton, Publication Date: Monday November 23, 1992 BYLINE: STEVE WEINSTEIN Nov. 3 was a sad day for Republicans. But it was a day of mourning for joke-slingers across the land. "When Dan Quayle leaves office, every comedy writer in the country will put on a black armband," said Rob Burnett, head writer for "Late Night With David Letterman." "He was sort of like Halley's comet. Something that good only comes around once every 75 years." But just because the nation's comedians don't have George Bush and Dan Quayle to kick around anymore doesn't mean the country is about to stop laughing at its top elected brass. Witness: * On the two most pressing decisions President-elect Bill Clinton faces, Letterman quipped: "No. 1, of course, is what can he do with the economy? And second, who the hell is he going to take to the Inaugural Ball?" * "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno recently made fun of Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, when they got lost after going for a walk in the woods near their home. The horrible part of this story, Leno said, was that they were confronted by a huge bear. Thinking quickly, "Gore broke into a speech and the bear immediately fell asleep." * Political satirist and stand-up comedian Paul Krassner kidded that Gore has decided to manufacturer a line of hats with a big "O" for ozone on them. And then, because he is concerned about unemployment among young kids in the inner city, he will encourage them to spend some of their free time playing tick-tack-toe with all the (Malcolm) "X" hats. "Bush and (Ross) Perot were great characters to play with, but I do recall people asking me four years ago, 'Aren't you going to miss Ronald Reagan? Bush isn't funny at all,' " said Harry Shearer, whose radio program of political satire and impersonations, "Le Show," airs weekends on KCRW-FM (89.9) and about 60 other stations around the country. "Well, Bush was hilarious and Clinton already offers more prospects than Bush did," Shearer said. "He is an easily recognizable character: a sax-playing Southerner with a wandering eye. And there's all the power-starved Democratic lawyers and lobbyists waiting to finally pounce on positions of power. There's Jesse Jackson. They did an incredible job hiding him during the campaign but he won't stay out of sight forever. There's the controversy brewing over what Hillary Clinton is going to do. There are a lot of funny people around Clinton. I say, send in the new clowns." Clinton will continue to be skewered by comics for his past reputation as a philanderer and the Gennifer Flowers scandal, several comedy writers said, at least until other events or personalities emerge as one-line fodder. Letterman has said that until Clinton "does something else stupid," the womanizing jokes would serve as a "stop-gap measure." Al Franken, who has been writing political sketches at "Saturday Night Live" since 1975 and has impersonated such politicians as Paul Tsongas and Pat Robertson, said that comedy writers are waiting patiently for a "new buffoon" to step forward. Though "Saturday Night Live," with Phil Hartman as Clinton, has already toyed with Clinton complaining about his "lousy marriage" and changing his mind all the time to capitalize on his nickname "Slick Willie," the NBC series has yet "to really figure him out." Franken equated the situation to 1976 when Jimmy Carter won the presidency and appeared "perfect," at least in his command of details of policy issues and legislation. At first, the show preyed upon the idea that Carter knew everything, and at one point, with Dan Aykroyd playing Carter, portrayed him hosting a radio talk show from the Oval Office, talking down a caller who had just dropped acid. Eventually, Franken said, the sheen wore off, Billy Carter stepped forward and Carter's Administration degenerated into a mess ripe for satire. No one interviewed for this story said that Clinton's ascendance from candidate to Leader of the Free World will make him any less a target of barbs and ridicule. Shearer and Krassner, both of whom savaged the Reagan and Bush administrations for years, agreed that the satirist's most stinging blows should be aimed at the people with the most power. "It's cheap to use it on people who have no power but just sound or act different than most," Shearer said. "You can't lay off the guy just because he's President." "It's not a question of reverence for the presidency or our attempt to be irreverent," the Letterman show's Burnett said. "The thing that people misunderstand about us is that what we do is entirely reactive, and the fact that he is President will help us react because the things he does will be even more well known. We don't create the news. If right now I knew that Bill Clinton was a cross-dresser, I couldn't make jokes about it until that was out in the press and common knowledge. And if he is a cross-dresser, please let me know, because that would be good for tomorrow." Arsenio Hall and Jay Leno declined to be interviewed for this story, but through his spokesman, Leno echoed Burnett's contention that comedians simply react to the news. "Jay doesn't This article is copyright 1992 The Los Angeles Times Home Edition. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM